to other duties after a brief furlough. By September 1945 the reception station was processing about 60,000 returning soldiers per month. It closed on 31 July 1946. Camp Atterbury's separation center, organized as a separate unit at the camp in October 1944, was one of eighteen facilities in the United States that was responsible for handling U.S. Army discharges. Shortly after Victory over Japan Day in August 1945, Brigadier General Ernest Aaron Bixby, the camp's commanding officer, announced that its huge receiving and separation centers (the U.S. Army's second-largest separation center during World War II) were discharging a daily average of 1,000 U.S. Army troops with sufficient points (85 points or more) or qualifying dependency. On 12 December 1945, Camp Atterbury discharged 2,971 soldiers, its highest number on a single day up to that date. On 2 August 1946, the last U.S. Army soldier to be processed and discharged at Camp Atterbury was Technical Sergeant Joseph J. "Joe" Stuphar of Poland, Ohio. The induction and separation center officially closed on 2 August 1946; however, about 10,000 military and civilian personnel remained at Camp Atterbury to keep the reception center, military police activities, and Wakeman General Hospital in operation. A total of 537,344 enlisted men and 39,495 officers were discharged from military service at Camp Atterbury's separation center during the war. Deactivation and Closure The U.S. Army suspended operations at Camp Atterbury on 4 August 1946 and the War Department proceeded with plans to transfer Wakeman Hospital's remaining patients to other hospitals. The first public announcement that the induction and separation center at the camp would close was made on 10 May 1946. On 18 September 1946, after the U.S. War Department announced that Wakeman Hospital would be declared surplus by 31 December, Indiana governor Ralph F. Gates reported from his office in Indianapolis that the hospital might be used after the first of the year as a temporary state mental hospital until the construction of the new northern Indiana mental hospital was completed. However, after Camp Atterbury and Wakeman Hospital were deactivated in December 1946, the Indiana National Guard established its headquarters at the site. Camp Atterbury remained on stand-by status until 1950, when it was reactivated as a military training center. Korean War - The Camp That Died Twice At the onset of the Korean War, Camp Atterbury was reactivated with the arrival of the 28th Infantry Division on